“Second Spring” Freeze first yields to thaw And the mornings abundant Only to reclaim from anxious hands Its eternal due. The spring comes again– This time it’s stronger. Celebrations are muted: We’ve seen this before. But deep in the... read more

Transactive memory doesn’t get enough attention. I think we’re too distracted by Google to give it its due. That’s interesting. It’s interesting in many ways. When a team or a couple or a family really begins to “click” it’s... read more

Instead of using a Facebook book promo forum to do a BUY BUY BUY on my new book this weekend, I pulled a fast one: I asked the participants what they didn’t like about modern fiction. Fellow authors: These people are your market. They’re the... read more

“The Vice President Wanted” The vice president wanted to be a painter– Not just a corporate thing in data processing, And we were all very impressed and happy– Until we realized he was giving out paintings As bonuses that year. Words and... read more

Whoa! These things really pop out at you, no? Pretty impressive. Digital billboards have come on strong over the past ten years or so. According to this article, digital billboards are poised to become a $15 billion dollar industry by 2020. Investors in the big... read more

I’ve thought about this line quite a bit. Just like life itself, there’s more to it than there seems. First, we need to be aware that Socrates said this as he was found guilty of heresy and corruption of youth and was forced by Athens to commit suicide.... read more

“Fell On Blank Days” It’s not with sorrow that we greet the days When nothing seems to happen. It’s more with a wish that we could know That which will make us long for these crushing calms. The days meted out in doctors’ waiting rooms... read more

Every day a few more visitors drop by my blog, apparently looking to enroll in the Spatula School of Personal Finance. It’s not a real institution. It’s just an article — fairly lame one, I have often thought. It was a rough-hewn product of my... read more

It’s not just mental health. These steps improve your physical health as well. Since most modern coping/self-help literature seems to be focused on averting ill-defined misery of the sort for which there is no clear cause, I throw out my simple suggestion... read more

“To My Son” Let no one make of you a thing to be prized, Nor cast off once inconvenient. Let nothing dim your curiosity, Nor bitter your intentions. Know that love and love alone Grew you and sustained you, And your father only ever claimed to be... read more

Story time. I was on a train in Spain crossing the plain eating plantains maintaining my brain. Ok, that last part was wrong. I was on a train in Spain, but it was going along the Mediterranean coast. It was somewhere between the French border and Barcelona. And I was... read more

“I was in Greeley and this long-distance trucker asked if I wanted to come along to help unload his truck in California and I had nothing else going on, so I said ‘sure’.” “So I had only seventy-five cents on me when we left Colorado and... read more

“The Segmented Woman” The school suggested she best not Take her own side in the argument. So while her lips flowed eloquent Demands for a freedom that Meant only drab days lived Through a flattened diagram, The voice inside was screaming– The... read more

The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self by Alice Miller My rating: 5 of 5 stars As a child I grew to shun and hate the label “gifted.” As I aged, I never really understood why. I had forgotten –or rather never understood —... read more

Lots of people ask for my advice. No, Really. . . . they really do! I’ll post the answers some of the questions here. Keep in mind these are only my opinions, and are likely worth about what I’m being paid for them. Feel free to read along! To... read more

“Bratpack Jerry” Bratpack Jerry’s still got it. He’s kept it all these years. Aztec Camera streams from the Kenwood cones, Oblivious is what the English boys are singing As the gaunt man sits fondling his shifter at the light. Radiation streams... read more

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve My rating: 4 of 5 stars I don’t frequently read in the YA (young adult) genre, but when I hear other grown-ups call it their favorite, I understand why. YA authors know that kids respond to obscurity with boredom. Most kids in that... read more